Top Ten

this week’s top ten

A half-million school kids across state eating local this semester

It was only about a decade ago that northern Michigan’s Diane Conners began nurturing a seed of an idea — to bring fruits and veggies from local farms to local schools — but oh, what a decade can do.

One coffee break (with Don Coe, Black Star Farms’ managing partner who sat on the state’s agriculture commission), several extra-long BATA bus rides (with early funding champion and Cherry Republic founder Bob Sutherland), and many large leaps up the legislative ladder, and the now formalized 10 Cents a Meal for Michigan’s Kids and Farm Program has hit its best-funded year yet.

Last week, the Michigan Department of Education announced the 229 recipients of the initial round of grants that would get part of the $5 million in School Aid funding set aside for the program for this school year (more than double last school year’s $2 million).

In this first round of grants alone, the program will serve a total enrollment of nearly 554,000 children in K-12 schools, early childhood education, and after-school settings across the state, more than half of whom are eligible for free or reduced lunch.

The $5-million funding is a testament to the central strategic value of 10 Cents a Meal, says Diane Conners, senior policy specialist at Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities. “Healthy, locally grown foods help build the minds and bodies of our children,” she says, “while the purchases support family farms and help to build the infrastructure of our local food supply.”

What’s more, it works: According to the 2020-2021 10 Cents a Meal Evaluation Results from the MSU Center for Regional Food Systems, nearly 64 percent of all grantees (91 of 143) have reported that 10 Cents grants allowed them to try new products in their food service program that they would not have otherwise tried.

Drop it Like it’s Hot: Frankfort Fall Fest Oct. 9

Check out the crazy Pumpkin Drop during the Frankfort Fall Festival on Saturday, Oct. 9. Running from 11am to 5pm at the city’s Open Space Park, the festival packs an entire season of fun into a single day. Enjoy the Fall Festival Parade (featuring the famous Scottville Clown Band), enormous car-sized (and car-crushing) pumpkins, locally built floats, the Mutt March costumed pet parade, family games, a corn maze, a craft fair, pumpkin decorating, and much more. Search Frankfort Fall Festival on Facebook.

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Hey, watch it The Big Leap

A network show worth tuning in for, Fox’s The Big Leap is totally on pointe. This scripted dramedy about the behind-the-scenes making of a reality dance show, is not only a clever meta concept but full of heart. From the cynical producers and celeb hosts to the aspiring dancers, the characters all have dreams, they all have a story, and they come together to create a show filled with funny and sweet feel-good moments — not to mention the wonderful dance numbers. Starring TV veterans Scott Foley, Piper Perabo, and a talented cast of newcomers, this uplifting underdog tale set in Detroit is like fun mashup of Glee (before it was terrible), American Idol, and So You Think You Can Dance? Airing Mondays on Fox; streaming on Hulu.

tastemaker Pour’s Sweet Potato Salad

Prep your palettes, cold-weather comrades! Autumn is officially on the menu at Petoskey’s Pour Kitchen & Bar, and we can’t wait to take a taste. Launched in August 2016 and helmed by general manager and sommelier Todd Chinnock, in partnership with executive chef Colin Campbell, Pour’s seasonally rotating menus often combine comfort food and classic technique with a distinctive Eastern Asian twist. “There are a lot of exciting flavors and complexity that I really enjoy,” says Campbell. And while Pour’s autumn offerings are no exception, there’s one addition in particular that already has this duo drooling. Enter the Sweet Potato Salad. A surefire favorite for vegan diners, this sultry starter features a base of caramelly-perfect sweet potatoes. Cooked three times and tossed in savory miso-barbeque, these taters are topped with a sweet autumn salad of julienned carrot, mint, cilantro, and organic pea shoots. Dressed with house coconut vinaigrette and finished with peanuts, spikes of lime, and a kick of chili oil, this sassy salad is a seasonal must. Find it at Pour Kitchen & Bar, 422 E Mitchell St., Petoskey. (231) 881-9800, pourpetoskey.com

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Onekama celebrates 150 years

In the last scheduled celebration of its sesquicentennial, Onekama will host a historythemed evening at the Portage Point Inn on Portage Lake Thursday, Oct. 7. It will include displays of Onekama’s history, tributes to the families involved in “The Cut” and live music, appetizers and a cash bar. “The Cut” was an (illegal) effort by local farmers to create a trench connecting Portage Lake to Lake Michigan back in 1871. Imagine their surprise when on completion, water rushed from Portage Lake, which was 12 feet higher than Lake Michigan. The result was a channel over 400 feet wide and 12 feet deep. Featured speaker is Loreen Niewenhaus of Traverse City, author of “A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach” and “A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk.” Portage Point Inn boasts its own century-plus history, having opened in 1903. For tickets or more information, go to www.onekama.info/onekama-onefifty. Proceeds will benefit future Onekama history projects.

Skele-tour Returns to Harbor Springs

It’s the most wonderful time of the year — if you’re Jack Skellington. Or in Harbor Springs, with its spooktacular celebration, Skele-tour 2021. Starting this week, Skeletons will be decked out in their best all across the city, from park benches to shops, even right in front of the chamber of commerce, where the idea was first raised from the dead — er, downstate. Chamber Executive Director Bonnie Kulp tells Northern Express she and admin Angie Savard had heard of similar efforts at the southern end of the state last year. “We knew the school would not do its traditional Halloween parade and didn’t know what would happen with trick or treat, so we wanted to do something for the community,” she says. The resulting event, in which businesses, organizations, and individuals can sponsor, dress, and display skeletons just about anywhere in town, was such a hit, they brought it back to life. Want to take a Skele-tour? You can download a map that’ll lead you to every “humerus” one by clicking the “Skeletons Arise” tab at www.harborspringschamber.com.

Eco-Friendly Clothing

Handmade Home Decor

Local Jewelry

Paper Goods

Local Artist Prints

326 N. Saint Joseph Street, Suttons Bay, MI

Stuff We Love: Insta-Cheese

Vending machines aren’t just for candy and snacks anymore. Nope, you can find machines that spit out cupcakes, mashed potatoes, live bait, and more. And if you travel to Northport, you can avail yourself of what may be the world’s only goat cheese vending machine, courtesy of Idyll Farms. Farm founder and owner Amy Spitznagel saw the idea as a way to expand the availability of the farm’s signature products, installing it at the newly purchased Pier Group building in Northport at 3rd and Rose. “We launched the Fourth of July,” says Spitznagel. The response has been better than she anticipated, with customers buying more from the machine than at the farmers market. It accepts credit cards and Apple Pay. Spitznagel says she intends to continue at least through October. “We’ll see what happens in November. I don’t want to have the cheese freeze.”

bottoms up Northern Natural Cider Flight

Those of us who frequently, and oh so sadly, have to eschew hard cider for fear of the headaches their hidden sulfites will bring to our bean, fall is not lost: the Mackey family — owners of the award-winning Northern Natural Cider House & Winery in Kaleva — have developed a process that naturally removes the sulfites from every single one of their ciders, all of which are made from premium ingredients and USDA-certified organic fruit; never fruit concentrates. We suggest you start, as we did, with the Northern Star Hard Cider and Lavender Apple Hard Cider — both gold award-winning medalists at the World Cider Championships and so fresh and fragrant they taste as though they’ve just been plucked from the orchard and pressed into your glass. But if you’re not driving, we highly recommend trying a sampler flight of as many of their innovative apple-and matings as your head can handle: Blueberry Apple, Elderberry Apple, Chocolate Cherry, Cherry Ginger, Blueberry Waffle, Season’s End, Hibiscus Rose, and Sweet Orange Blossom — to name just a few. Some you can find in 12-ounce bottles at a growing number of retailers Up North, but if you want your tastebuds to truly lift off, a mixed flight on-site is the way to go. Find the Northern Natural’s tasting room (pet-friendly and with frequent live music, fantastic food trucks, and only outdoor seating) at 7220 Chief Rd., just east of US-131, between Manistee and Bear Lake. (231) 889-0064, www.northernnaturalwinery.com Northern Express Weekly • october 04, 2021 • 5